Media Measurement

Consumers have more media content, channels and more choice of devices than ever before.

Advertisers, media owners and media buyers need to identify which digital and traditional channels are most successful at attracting the right audiences.

Our audience measurement solution is the trading currency for television (e.g. TV ratings), print, radio, out-of-home, online and mobile media. We track which consumers are using what channel, how they are engaging with content across each medium and what is driving their behavior.

With this detailed view of consumers’ content appreciation our clients not only get ratings of what people are watching or listening to – they also know why. Our cross-media measurement shows what devices your audiences are using for each channel and type of content, and we evaluate your marketing efficiency and performance across the whole spectrum of channels.

We help you optimize your channel selection and content to deliver increased audience engagement, end-to-end.

Last year we consulted various stakeholders across the media industry on what the future of media currency would look like in 5 years’ time1. You can read our white paper here but to summarise we outlined three possible scenarios for the future:

Technological self-regulation of data, through Blockchain (emphasis on user-ownership of data)

The rise of the “Super JIC” (Joint Industry Committee) – as centralised guardians of data (emphasis on shared ownership of data through collaboration)

These are not either/or scenarios but rather three inter-related trends that could develop to a greater or lesser extent depending on the conditions within different markets.
One year on, how are these predictions playing out? Are any of them becoming more broadly adopted and are we any clearer in understanding the future of media currency?

1) User ownership (via blockchain)

It’s been hard to escape the industry’s obsession with blockchain over the last 12 months. There has been a lot of talk about using it to simplify the digital supply chain and make ad buying process more transparent and accountable.
There have been quite a few new entrants to the market claiming to do just that, such as TMG’s launch of Truth which provides added-value through its blockchain-based trading desk. On the clientside Unilever partnered with IBM not just to simplify the supply chain, but also tackle the issue of brand safety. And on the platform-side Fenestra was launched earlier this year.
Verdict: Expect many more entrants in the marketplace but we are nowhere near a tipping yet. The industry will need to be convinced of competitive advantage to switch from existing practices and suppliers.
Another potential application of blockchain is enabling consumers to take more control over which advertising they want to be exposed to. This means consumers could “opt-in” to advertising and content that is highly relevant to them, or they could be rewarded (financially or through credits) for their brand interactions and their data. Blockchain could in theory then manage these data contracts at scale. This giant opt-in would potentially reduce ad blocking, and also help to address concerns regarding ad fraud and non-human traffic.
It has to be said there has been more talk than action in this area, however last year, Bitclave launched BASE a blockchain-based decentralised search engine which connects consumers directly with businesses – eliminating intermediaries such as Google AdWords. The premise is that uses will be able to search on personalized offers – avoiding links to irrelevant advertising and be paid in exchange for viewing the relevant ones.
Also Townsquare Media and digital platform Brave partnered to test blockchain based advertising providing readers with Basic Attention Tokens (BAT).
Verdict: Still in its infancy with just the early adopters entering the market. But the issue remains, if individuals can manage and monetise their personal data directly – will this eventually disintermediate data companies themselves?

2) Proprietary ownership – walled gardens

Even a year ago publishing rivals News UK, Guardian News & Media and The Telegraph had already started to join forces to create their own premium marketplace while broadcasters Fox, Turner and Viacom joined forces to create their own audience measurement platform.
This trend shows no sign of abating and we are starting to see new and interesting collaborations in growth areas. With viewers devoting more time to OTT content there is great potential for data-driven advertising and programmatic trading for TV. The European Broadcaster Exchange (EBX) was founded by Mediaset (Italy and Spain), ProSiebenSat.1 Media (Germany), TF1 Group (France) and Channel 4 (UK) to develop addressable advertising solutions for premium online video content.
Also the growth of mobile video is leading to interesting developments, such as the collaboration among Hollywood studios including Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCU, Viacom and WarnerMedia for Jeffrey Katzenberg’s proposed new platform.
Verdict: Collaborations and partnerships likely to continue with further consolidation of groups as scale is king. Will these new entities seek to collaborate with JICs though?

3) Rise of the Super JIC

Despite the growth of these walled gardens, we predicted that the industry is likely to more highly regulated in the future and that the JICs are well placed to ensure media measurement is trusted, independent and GDPR compliant. What makes them “Super JICs” is that they would also be supported by global digital platforms and other key data providers.
At GfK we have started to see this trend already in our total video measurement solutions for example with the introduction of YouTube alongside TV measurement in Germany and in Singapore with integration of TV and digital media.
However in July this year the formation of the first true SuperJIC began to gather pace as the Netherlands became the first country in the world to issue a tender for a TMAM – Total Media Audience Measurement. This means all viewing, reading and listening of media would be measured under one roof while adhering to industry quality standards and being GDPR and e-privacy compliant.
Verdict: The Netherlands’ previous drive for total video measurement was followed in a number of other markets. The world will be watching and waiting to see how far this model can be replicated elsewhere.

Conclusion

If the Dutch SuperJIC is successful it may well become the blueprint for future collaboration between JICs, digital platforms and other data providers. However creating consensus in other markets will be very challenging and managing expectations among stakeholders harder still, but it probably provides the best foundation for independent, trusted measurement.
If the challenges of integrated measurement prove to be insurmountable, this could further encourage walled gardens to go it alone. This would undoubtedly make life more complicated for the agencies that need to trade with a growing number of suppliers plan across an array of different metrics.
If that becomes the predominant direction of travel, then blockchain enabled solutions might well become the only way to deal with such fragmentation and complexity. But don’t expect any major changes soon. Blockchain is still at the experimental stage and it will take time for the industry to consolidate around the standard solutions that blockchain will deliver. Whatever approach we use, trust will always be a central requirement.
1Footnotes:How it all started: voices from across the industry. GfK and IAB Europe invited industry representatives to a round table discussion on how media measurement might look in five years’ time. Participants included: digital platforms Google, Facebook and Oath; global ad agencies Publicis and Dentsu; media owners from broadcast TV and digital; a programmatic audience platform; a national advertising association and the German JIC (Joint Industry Committee) for TV audience research, AGF. It is the first time we have been able to discuss these issues with such a broad group and, from the ensuing debate, three possible scenarios for the future became apparent:The rise of the “Super JIC” as reinvigorated, neutral data arbitersChaos replaces order, with data being controlled by different competing entities large and smallTechnological self-regulation of data, likely in the form of an adaptation of Blockchain technology

Are you interested in more insights?

We held a roundtable discussion with leaders from across the media industry to debate what media currencies will look like in 5 years’ time. Explore interesting facts in our free white paper.
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Mexicans are now spending a lot more time online with their mobile devices. Latest data from GfK’s Crossmedia Visualizer shows the amount of time Mexicans are spending online has increased from an average of 183 minutes per month during first half of 2017 to 210 minutes per month in H1 2018 (see table 1).
So what are some of the key drivers causing this jump? One is an overall increase in smartphone use and another is an increase in accessing Media on Demand (MoD) content – especially via smartphone. We define MoD here as audio/video websites and apps where you can play, pause and stop content.
When you look at the time spent accessing MoD across all devices for H1 2017 vs H1 2018, average duration went up just over 25% (49.7mins vs 62.2). However accessing MoD specifically on smartphones has risen nearly twice as fast at 49% (15.2 min vs 22.6). Across the same time period reach on smartphones has also risen from 86.9% to 89.3% (see table 2*).
Indeed using smartphones across all categories has risen overall by 23% After MoD sites and apps the big winners are Social Networking (18%) and Communication (28%).

What is driving the rise in smartphone use?

What’s also apparent when comparing H1 2017 vs H1 2018 is that the frequency of visiting these sites and apps on smartphones has increased quite a bit in the past year – definitely more than on other devices. The reach of those accessing MoD on their smartphones 20+ days per month is up from 25.4 to 39.8. Meaning that nearly 40% of all Mexicans who use a smartphone are now spending more than 20 days per month using these devices for MoD.
It seems that much of this growth in smartphone MoD has been driven by increases in viewing content on YouTube and Netflix. When looking at total average duration of viewing per user across the 6 month period for H1 2017 and H1 2018, YouTube is up almost 18 hours and Netflix up over 3 hours.
In tandem, mobile speeds in Mexico are improving and so is availability. Although AT&T is a relative newcomer to the market it is closing the gap on market leader Telcel and both operators offer good 4G speeds which can only help mobile streaming.
This growth presents a huge opportunity both for targeting consumers via mobile ads, and for expanding the content available. For example large Hollywood players are beginning to put some serious money behind developing premium video content for mobile. Recently ‘NewTV’ launched as a mobile video start-up receiving $1bn of funding including from bank and studios such as Disney, 21st Century Fox, Lionsgate, MGM, Warner Bros, NBCUniversal and Viacom plus tech backing from Alibaba.
Expect more growth in this area. Increased usership will continue to attract further investment. Higher production values and improved user experience for mobile will provide further opportunities for advertisers to target audiences with premium content.

Are you interested in further insights?

We’ll let you know, why multi-channel marketing is so important and what consumers are using their various devices for. We preview 8 very different markets using data from GfK Crossmedia Link. Discover more!
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UK radio reached a significant milestone on 17 May 2018 when the RAJAR Q1 2018 listening figures were published. For the first time, over half (51%) of all weekly radio listening was via a digital platform, such as DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), online or through digital TV. In other words, more radio listening is now done through digital means than through analogue on FM.

Why is this figure important?

In 2009, the UK Government published its criteria for turning off the analogue FM signal and having only digital broadcast. Those were:

When 50% of listening is to digital; and

When national DAB coverage is comparable to FM coverage, and local DAB reaches 90% of the population and all major roads

The Government’s intention was for these criteria to be met by the end of 2013, pushed by an industry ‘drive to digital’. Without this ‘drive to digital’, they expected digital radio listening to reach 50% organically by 2015.
In fact, it has taken until 2018. The DAB standard for broadcasting digital audio services has been around in the UK since 1995, so one could say the 50% listening threshold has taken the UK almost 25 years to reach. Ultimately, the timetable was dictated by the listener.
Although the UK has now (just) crept past this specific Government criterion, the UK has, in fact, already embraced digital radio.
In an average week, well over half of the UK population (63%) do listen to some radio via digital means (known as ‘weekly reach’) – and our GfK data show that DAB radio set sales have declined by 26% in the last five years because most people have already replaced some or all of their analogue sets; or are listening through other digital means such as the Radioplayer app or ‘Alexa’.

What happens now?

Theoretically, the Government should now trigger the two-year migration process for turning off the FM signal by 2020. This feels unlikely. Both the public service (BBC) and commercial radio broadcasters prefer nothing to happen for the time being and to continue broadcasting on FM, as well as digital. This aversion to disrupting the market is felt especially in commercial radio, as they enjoy a relative buoyant period for advertising expenditure.
The UK, and many other countries, will also be keenly observing listening trends in Norway, which underwent a digital radio switchover in 2017. Radio listening figures published so far in 2018 show an initial dip in overall listening followed by signs of a recovery. It has also benefitted the smaller and new stations to digital, who have captured around a third of all listening, and brought more choice to the Norwegian listener.

Our forecast for the UK market: from collecting data to connecting data

We believe that we’ll see plans put in place to gradually phase out analogue FM radio broadcasting; this is something the Swiss radio industry wants to happen in their market from 2020. This slow migration would suit a number of local stations whose share of digital radio listening is below 50% and who therefore, understandably, are not keen on losing the majority of their listening.
This landmark digitization of radio may also provoke some movement in how radio audiences are measured. With more listening happening digitally, so the volume and granularity of listening data that can be captured increases.
The emphasis will shift from collecting data to connecting data, such as online streaming or consumer behavior. GfK are already harnessing big (and small) datasets in several markets, such as the Measurement Innovation Program in Australia for radio, and integrating TV and online viewing in Sweden. As different markets operate at different speeds in their digitization journeys, so we recognize that media measurement needs to be tailored accordingly to maximize the value of the audience data to the stakeholders.
Whether the FM signal gets turned off or not in the short term, this is a moment for celebration for the UK radio industry and for Digital Britain, and opens up exciting new opportunities for radio stations, for radio audience measurement and, most importantly, for the radio listener.
John Carroll is Global Director Business Development, Media Measurement at GfK (@MediaCarroll)

Connecting the dots between digital and traditional media

We investigated the role of social media chatter in generating awareness and readership of Vanity Fair’s Caitlyn Jenner issue.

Vanity Fair is an influential and iconic magazine published by Condé Nast.

Situation

Most media planners crave insight and data about how digital and traditional media can work together. The much talked about issue with Caitlyn Jenner on the cover offered us a perfect opportunity to explore this topic. We wanted to investigate what impact, if any, the social media buzz can have on the readership of the July issue in its traditional printed format.

Approach

Over a nine-week period, we surveyed 1,798 adults online who said they had read the July issue of Vanity Fair.

Outcome

Four in ten adults who read the magazine first heard about the Jenner cover on social media

40% of adults (ages 18+) who read the July issue had not read Vanity Fair in the previous 12 months

Nearly half (47%) of those readers were aged 18 and 34, indicating that the coveted millennials do read print magazines, contrary to the conventional wisdom

The big challenge for publishers is generating awareness among these younger readers – and it looks like social media can help with this

Optimizing TV content for a demanding audience

31.01.2016

Our research helped this TV network shape its new television show featuring a Brazilian icon.

Situation

A broadcaster needed information about how viewers would respond to a popular entertainer’s return to the airwaves after a short absence. After the launch of the program, the company wanted to track the audience’s response to its format and content.

Approach

We explored social media conversations to determine which elements viewers might value in the show, and how these aligned with the host and the network. A subsequent quantitative study gauged the target audience’s intention of watching the program.

After the launch, we tracked viewers’ behavior and opinions by integrating social media insights with audience data from the broadcaster and data from our online panel.

Outcome

We found that Brazilians were receptive to a new show because television program options during the evening time slot were limited.

After the launch, we tracked user-generated content on social networks to see what elements of the show were resonating with the audience. This information helped producers strengthen the show’s content.

Our advice also helped the commercial team to target sponsors with brands that would be a good match for the profile of the program and its audience.

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